The conservative Judicial Confirmation Network goes up today with an ad reminding voters in two key states about Obama's ties to Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. Representatives for the group say it will be a "$1 million ad and grassroots effort" around the veep debate tomorrow and the opening of the new Supreme Court session Monday.

Very effective ad
especially the picture of Obama thinking, "Hmm, who should I put on the SC, hmm." He's an unknown, he's exotic, he's got all these weirdo anti-American guys in his circle of close associates... Best to just vote for someone you can trust, even if you don't agree with everything they say and do.

I've been asking a lot of veterans why they still support McCain given his vote against the GI Bill, and most of them say he doesn't matter, it really Palin they like. One said their party hasn't been this thrilled about a candidate since Roosevelt. Palin is "one of the guys", she does things they like to do, and they love the idea of her making it to the top. They're not thinking about whether or not she can run the country, they're just want to see her beat the guy they don't like.

This is the culture war. They think Obama's a jerk, they think liberals are stupid, and they think our party takes their hard earned money and wastes it on people who refuse to work for a living. Their hatred of us is what keeps them from seeing the awful truth about Palin's ineptitude and McSame's stubborn recklessness. They don't get it that Bush and McCain don't represent them. They will watch the same debate that we watch tomorrow, but they will selectively ignore Palin's mistakes while her practiced platitudes and BS about McCain/leadership/experience/fighting against terrorists/etc. will reinforce their determination to elect her (them).

She makes them feel good about themselves, and that is why we might lose this election.

cost him the election. How can he continue to campaign under the premise that he will cut pork spending when he's just endorsed $150 billions in pork?

I'm just so furious at congress I could spit. They have just voted for the beginning of the bankruptcy of this country and led by the democrats, no less! It's obscene! $850 billions with no oversight and the principal actors still get their bonuses at the end instead of up front and are all kept as advisors!

How can anyone vote for either of these candidates? They do not stand for the good of the country, on the contrary, they've just initiated more debt to be picked up by China. How irresponsible of both of them.

I'm voting third party all the way, I do not want to be responsible for the destruction of the country by giving my vote to any of these two wall street endorsed candidates. I'm also voting against all incumbents from all levels of government - our system is corrupted to the core and it needs to be cleaned out in November if we want to continue to be a true democracy.

I've never been so scared in my whole life as I am now - corporate America and Wall Street dominates and be damned the american people!

when it becomes readily known that a large part of the populous makes a huge decision like this based upon like, or based upon the fact that the person is more like them in their likes, even if the policies aren't the same, rather than making the decision based upon who would be best for the future of the country..

we see what happens when people use this for their decision making process, we have one of the worst presidencies in the history of the country...and yet this result doesn't deter people from using the same reasons to make decisions...

is it just natural for humans to want everyone else in the world to be exactly the same? or at least that the only people in power are exactly like them?

it would be akin to the GM of a sports team only signing players that were like him/her, and not signing the best players available...would this be a franchise functioning at the highest level possible (which is what we should be striving for in any decision)

as a creative person one of the first things we learn is that using the word 'like' is not an answer, and has absolutely zero value...unfortunately this is never taught in any other curriculum...

then again, maybe I just want more people like myself in office...

I have to say, though, that I don't hunt myself, but many people I know do it, and I'm a big fan of the 'one shot' in The Deer Hunter and I respect people who hunt, I just TOTALLY DESPISE the thought that people make such a huge decision based upon the idea that someone else hunts...

the more we roll toward the election. She's lost some points by exposing herself as inexperienced in the interviews, but the "deer in the headlight" moments have already been explained away by right wing pundits. Obama benefited from the same effect. As more and more people became excited about his candidacy and talked about the potential for real change in our government, the more new people came into the fold. We can continue to scrape some of the snow off the Palin snowball, but it's got momentum so it's going to grow more. I don't think she alone can convince undecided voters because she's got nothing really to offer them. But the voters who are already in her camp are thrilled with her, which means they'll be out there talking to others, sharing their excitement about the ticket, helping people overlook her deficiencies, most importantly, expressing their disgust with Obama, the "most liberal Democrat in Congress." This ad gives them sound bites and other ammunition they need for calling in to talk shows or sensibly discussing the election with church friends and relatives.

The real issue is how we perceive leaders. We want to feel connected, we want to believe we're on the right side of arguments. Notice with the bailout that no one here is screaming at the Dems who vote Yes on the giveaways to the rich. What? Would the Dem party participate in income redistribution from the poor to the rich? Would our side cheat? If the votes were split across party lines, if most Dems voted against these bailout plans and most Repubs voted for them, we'd be screaming at Repubs for stealing from the middle class again. It's a lot easier to be mad at Repubs for their corporate welfare than to admit Dems are also in the pocket of the super rich.

This election is the best chance in our lifetimes to stop America's trend toward plutocracy. See here.

""And then after this immediate problem, we've got the long-term fundamentals that will really make sure this economy grows. Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses that deserve it. As president I am going to eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups. That's how we'll grow our economy and create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow."

Obama is saying anything but the fundamentals of the economy are currently strong. He is giving his prescription to make the fundamentals strong. As usual, McCain lies.

McCain tried to make the hopefully reassuring statement that the fundamentals of the economy are strong BUT that we are in a real crisis. That was in the same sentence. Distortions reign, with both parties. A couple of days later, Paulson too (who has been crying, rightfully, 'crisis') also said that the fundamentals of the economy were strong, but that didn't get much play.

And as for the quote above, Obama was talking about the long-term fundamentals (that continue to exist "after this immediate problem") that will 'really make sure this economy grows.'

Well, not amazing. Just what we expected. It may be time for Obama to spend some air time clarifying his relationships to these guys. Most who choose to investigate know it's not nearly like this ad would make us believe.

Heck, Ayers is a professor. He has specialized in early education. There are many, many, many respected people who have associated with Ayers at some point, either on a board of directors for a non-profit or at university.

Obama needs to clarify - to somehow illustrate how exaggerated it is. And, should also stress for just how long they've been using the same ploy against him. It's all they've got - associations - and pretty harmless ones at that once the facts are ALL out.

While I don't think enough good reporting has been done on Obama's relationship with these men, I hate seeing these kinds of commercials. I wish the media would do its jobs and give us unbiased information, but I guess that is just too much to ask. More information needs to be presented on who these candidates associate with and who they are influenced by.

I read from nonpartisan journalist Hugh Hewitt the other day that if Obama wins, the trio of "Ayers-Kos-Moore will be running the country, rising up in a vast snarl every time their kept politicians depart from their line." (I assume he means Michael Moore, and not Julianne Moore, although he doesn't say.) So they could have gone a lot further with this!

Professor Hewitt served for nearly six years in the Reagan Administration in a variety of posts, including Assistant Counsel in the White House and Special Assistant to two Attorneys General.

Since returning to California in 1989 to oversee the construction of the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Hewitt has served as a member of the California Arts Council, the South Coast Air management District, and the Orange County Children and Families Commission.

...almost time for them to spring a surprise--if indeed they have one. (And if there is no "whitey" tape, will Larry Johnson admit to being played--or worse?)

It's definitely going to get ugly, especially if Palin isn't able to turn it around tonight. We can expect to see a lot more ads featuring Wright and Ayers and Rezko as the GOP attempts to win on "Gee, we have no new ideas, but at least we're solid old flag-waving white guys." I'd love to think that they can't win on that. But that's what they've won on before, so I can't imagine why this year would be any different.

In other words, I'm still afraid to get my hopes up about booting the GOP out of the White House--which we must do. We should have done it in 2004. And in 2000 we should never have let Bush get close enough for his GOP cronies on the SC to put him in office. I no longer have faith in the Democrats' ability to connect with the American people well enough to win a damned national election.

I know the polls look better for Obama, but I remain skeptical--and I sure hope to be pleasantly surprised in a few weeks.

But I think this is just October. This is what republicans do. This is what we all expected (at least, those of us who thought this stuff was toxic when we first learned about it), and why the idea that his race speech put all this behind us because "he handled it" or "it's already been out there" is ridiculous.

We can be disgusted by these tactics, but if we are surprised then we haven't paid attention for the last few decades.